Legal Ethics
Despite a Changed Life, Convicted Ex-Lawyer Is Denied a Law License
Posted Jul 14, 2008, 11:00 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The Tennessee Supreme Court has refused to reinstate the law license of former Nashville, Tenn., lawyer Dennis Hughes, who underwent a religious conversion and overcame an alcohol addiction before he went to prison.
“Jesus may have forgiven the sins of Dennis J. Hughes, but the Tennessee Supreme Court has not,” the Nashville City Paper reports.
Hughes was censured for assaulting a police officer at night court and disbarred 11 years ago for trying to bribe a witness while defending a client accused of murder, the story says.
The supreme court agreed that Hughes now has the moral character and legal knowledge necessary for reinstatement, the story says. But the majority said reinstatement would harm public respect for the legal system.
“The egregiousness of his conduct cannot be overstated,” the court wrote. “Even though 13 years have passed since the crimes and 11 years since the disbarment, it is our view that the preservation of the integrity of the bar and our interest in the protection of the public outweigh the totality of Hughes' rehabilitative efforts.”
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Posted by kay sieverding - 2 months, 2 weeks, 10 hours, 7 minutes ago
If it was just a matter of bribery and obstruction of justice he probably would have got away with it. Only the hitting of the police officer brought scrutiny.